CASE PREVIEW · United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
Cotton-Blackburn v Leonard
Weapon-Planting Allegations Support Fabrication and Substantive Due Process Claims at Screening
Decided
The citation
Cotton-Blackburn v Leonard, opinion and order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, issued November 4, 2026 (Case No. 26-13446)
From the case summary
A Michigan prisoner alleged that corrections officer Gerald Leonard planted a weapon and falsely accused him of possessing it, causing about seven months in segregation and a criminal prosecution that ended in acquittal. Proceeding pro se, he sued Leonard, state police sergeant Benjamin Rowell and…
Read the full Keypoint summary for the facts, ruling and practitioner takeaway.